At the 2018 National iAwards, CancerAid won Startup of the Year. CancerAid is a doctor-designed app that is changing the way cancer care is provided. The app lets patients understand their diagnosis, organises their journey and helps them feel connected through a support team – bringing a patient-centric experience into a provider-centric world. We recently discussed their iAwards experience and what’s next on their innovation journey.
What made you enter the iAwards?
The iAwards is an industry recognised, national Awards program, with some exceptional winners from past cohorts. With this in mind, we were excited to enter the 2018 iAwards and peg ourselves against the best in the state and country. We also recognised it as an opportunity to connect with a local, national and possibly international network of contacts and business opportunities.
In addition, CancerAid is a startup with a strong vision of improving people’s experience with cancer and their outcomes. We saw the iAwards as a good channel to meet and learn from our community, and today we are very pleased with the results.
Why would you recommend entering the iAwards?
It’s a great idea, regardless of whether you just got started or if you are in an emerging business and want to connect with the industry to get the word out about your innovation. The iAwards gives you the platform to discuss opportunities and challenges with experienced industry leaders while extending your network.
What did you learn from pitching at the National iAwards?
We’ve been lucky to have been invited to participate in several judged pitches since CancerAid first started. The iAwards judges provided comprehensive feedback on our business model, and gave insights into the current business landscape and advice to help us scale our delivery. We have not always been given the chance to discuss and receive feedback in such detail. This element, provided by the judges after our pitch, was very helpful.
What advice/tips would you give fellow innovators considering entering?
If you are a startup like CancerAid, make sure to start your application well in time, start adding as much of the general information at the start and revisit the details of your innovation at the very end. The core of your innovation may have changed slightly or been improved to meet your market demand since you first decided to submit your application. This was the case for us when we were making sure that our final submission was reflective of our most recent work and updates.
How does it feel to have won Startup of the Year at the National iAwards?
We are thrilled to have received two iAwards and one Merit this year. We wish to thank everyone involved in planning and executing the events and iAwards, the judges for their advice, and our supporters and users for helping us improve. It’s thanks to this kind of support that we can continue to develop our products to assist more patients and caregivers.
What’s next for CancerAid?
Currently, we are looking at different models of care delivery. One of the aspects we wish to touch on is behavioural change. It is a complex and challenging problem to solve, especially in patients who have had a cancer diagnosis. In developing this solution, we are focussing on the clinical (cancer) outcomes we wish to improve upon and how to drive those changes using technologies. We have had some early traction and are excited to see how this will be incorporated into our offerings in 2019. Watch this space!
Do you have a fun fact about your iAwards journey?
We have a fun memory from the moment right before we needed to submit the application. After a busy day, three of our team members were huddled around a computer to do the final review of the submission before the deadline. We couldn’t locate a submission code after pressing “submit” and all three of us started looking through our emails. One of us picked up the phone to call our iAwards contact for help. Barely 60 seconds later, everyone ended up accessing the code at the exact same time and once submitted, we had a long laugh about a soon to be memorable teamwork scenario!
Find out more!
For more information about CancerAid and their award-winning app, visit their website.